Sonny's Forum Replies

In fact, thinking about it, maybe "patches" would be a better concept for a metal site than medals.

Hi Ben, do you think it is possible that when you search by release it would be possible to list all releases in a clan with no ratings or reviews. I ask because one thing I do like on metal-archives is their "review albums with no reviews" challenge. Due to the newness of Metal Academy it has a large proportion of unrated and unreviewed albums, so maybe something along those lines could be introduced, otherwise there is a danger that the only albums with enough ratings to register on the charts will be those on the clan challenges. Personally I have decided to try to rate as many of the Fallen doom, sludge, stoner and drone releases as I can (I'll leave the gothic stuff to someone else!) It's just a thought...

It's been out for a couple of months now, but this album is terrific. For fans of Solstice, Warning, Apostle of Solitude, Hour of 13 etc.

Death the Leveller are 3/4 of Mael Mordha (and are better):

Opening track, The Hunt Eternal:

Ben, please add Ireland's Death the Leveller.

Sorry Ben.. I know I probably shouldn't encourage him!!

..oh and Hexenbrett (Germany) and the superbly named Cthuluminati (Netherlands).

Also, could you add Old Man Gloom's Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning if you haven't already. I say this because when I search OMG it reports 13 Releases, but I can only see ten.

Hi Ben, could you please add a couple of atmo-black projects, Ruadh (UK) and Peordh (US).

Daniel, I find your frog-centric viewpoint offensive as it completely ignores the hardships and discrimination other amphibians in extreme metal face on a daily basis!! Frogs may be the most populous creature in the aquatic gorenoise community, but they aren't the be all and end all you know!

It appears to me, with the exception of vandalize, that the visitors to the site who have only selected one clan then register no further activity. This suggests one of two things, either they are just surfing and had a quick look at the site then decided it wasn't for them, or inadvertently selected only one clan, became frustrated and then left it. 

I don't know which it is, but the actual registration process seems straightforward to me so I'm guessing it is more likely to be the former, in which case there's very little you could do about that.

If someone has registered less than three clans can they register further clans later? For example if they are new to metal and only have a limited experience of the music, joining a cool-looking site of well-informed enthusiasts to enlist help in order to expand their metal horizons. (I'm aware not everyone on the internet is an old bastard like me!) 

Hi Ben, please add Cosmic Putrefaction (Italy).

Hi Ben, could you please add the new Ashtar album, Kaikuja.

I posted a review of Monotheist a while back, so I won't regurgitate it here, other than to say that I have to admit to having come to the album a little late. The reason is that by the time of it's release I had given up on the band. I loved their first three releases and they are still some of my favourite albums of all time, but since Into the Pandemonium the band seemed hell-bent on self destructing. Cold Lake, Vanity / Nemesis and then the reformed band's Prototype demo were pretty much crap, not merely sub-standard with the band unable to put together a stable line-up.

So when Monotheist was originally released in 2006 my reaction was "so what?" Well more fool me, as Tom and the guys totally killed it with the slowing of their original thrash riffing to a more doom metal pace is absolutely right up my street. One of the great albums of the 2000s, and the springboard to Tom G. Warrior's next project Triptykon.

To Mega Therion will always remain my favourite CF album, as it means so much to me on a personal level, but this is a damn close second.

Thanks for the insight guys. Personally speaking, I enjoy the site immensely and one of the main reasons is that it fosters a respect for each other that is sorely lacking on most other sites (music related or otherwise) and is something of which you are right to be enormously proud. 

I agree with you Ben that points-based systems only seem to breed an atmosphere of contempt and over-inflated egos, as they seem to inevitably lead to a hierarchical membership. MA's greatest strength is that, no matter your musical preferences, it's members consider everyone else's points of view as valid and feel no need to belittle or sneer at their opinions.

The other obvious unique aspect of the site is the clan-based membership, a brilliant concept that I suspect has a huge amount of potential going forward. 

Again I would just like to express my appreciation to both of you and all the other members who make the site what it is and as for the membership increasing, as someone once said "if you build it, they will come!"

Sometimes events in life mean that an album takes on a much greater significance for us than others and has meaning beyond the mere music on the disc. For me Sepultura's Chaos AD is one such album. Due to a life-changing family tragedy in the spring of 1990 I pretty much abandoned metal music and it's occult and violent imagery as we dealt with a very difficult time in our lives. If I did listen to any music at all during this time it was more likely to be Pearl Jam, Nirvana or some fairly anodyne Britpop.

Then one day I was browsing in a new record store that opened nearby and came across Chaos AD. I had been briefly aware of Sepultura before '90, but it was the cover that drew my attention. Anyway, I bought the CD and took it home, then.. wow, this was THE shit. Aggressive, powerful and yet with a meaningful message beyond the usual bland rantings and macho posturings of a lot of metal. I was hooked from the opening of the riff on Refuse / Resist (a song with a sentiment I strongly identify with). Territory, Propaganda, Manifest and the awesome Nomad are all fantastic metal songs, but beyond that actually fucking MEAN something. Kaiowas is a nice interlude that reflects something of the band's roots and is a nice looking-glass into the band. There is even a cover of one of my all-time favourite songs, The Hunt (although I prefer the New Model Army version, Max's vocals not quite suiting the ominous nature of the track).

So, this isn't just a great album in it's own right, it is solely responsible for allowing me to find a way back into metal music when it seemed I had left it behind for ever. I will never forget that and still play this regularly to this day.

Thanks for the reply Daniel.

I'm sure I speak for all the "regulars" when I say we really appreciate the time, effort and obvious passion both yourself and Ben put into the site in order to give all visitors a positive and rewarding experience.

Thanks, Andi, I'll be sure to check them all out.

Hi Ben, please add Japanese doom duo BlackLab.

Hi Ben, please add Winterfylleth's (UK) latest, The Reckoning Dawn and Sojourner's (NZ) Premonitions.

The new album from England's premier black metal band, Winterfylleth, called The Reckoning Dawn, their first black metal release for four years, is a cracker:

Cirith Ungol are back after nineteen years with a really good album, Forever Black.

Much better than I expected (love that Elric cover too):

Ben, could you please add Lychgate (UK) and Etoile Filante (France).

Hi Ben, could you please add War Dogs (Spain) and particularly their album Die by My Sword.

Hi Ben, please add Rosy Finch's new album Scarlet, which is definitely more metal than their debut and the Mourning Beloveth / Ruins of Beverast split EP, Don't Walk on the Mass Graves. Also:

Phantom Druid (Netherlands)

Trebuchet (UK)

Eldritch Rites (Australia)

Smoke Mountain (US) 

Seed of the Sorcerer, Womb of the Witch (US)

Sleeping Village (US)

Goblinsmoker (UK)

Satyrus (Italy)

Beggar (UK)

Dö (Finland)

Planet of the Dead (New Zealand)

Sibyl (US)

Blackwater Holylight (US)

Sorry it's quite a long list!

Shit Daniel couldn't you have kicked off with something a little easier?!

I've had a forty year plus relationship with both albums and I definitely would include them as elite releases (I have both rated as five stars). SWoD was the second metal album I ever bought (after Paranoid) and I love every track, including Epitaph, and know it from beginning to end like the back of my hand. Have awesome memories of seeing Priest perform most of the album live on the Stained Class tour in our local hall in Stoke-on-Trent before their studs and leather days began and they were amazing back then. Rising is the only Rainbow album I have much time for and Blackmore was a dick live, wouldn't even play an encore on the only occasion I ever saw them around '78, sulky bastard, so fuck Blackmore, I vote Sad Wings.

Rising 2 Sad Wings1

Hi Ben could you please add the new Thanatos album, "Violent Death Rituals".

Hi Ben, could you please add Agvirre (UK), Gloosh (Russia) and the new Marrasmieli album Between Land and Sky.

Ben, please add Doomfall (US), Soul of Salem (Italy), Dark Matter (UK) and Earthmass (UK).

Manchester's masters of atmo-black return with a new album in May. Preview is the title track The Reckoning Dawn and will be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the band's black metal renderings of English folk history.

Yeah, Xephyr. I'm a big fan of Sojourner and am definitely looking forward to this one. Have both their others on CD. Will check out the preview later... 

...preview track The Deluge is epic. Atmospheric black metal with folk metal stylings. A bit heavier than their previous releases.

Ben, please add Diespnea (Italy).

I was originally turned on to this via a recommendation through RYM about three years ago. I got hold of a copy and listened to it for the first time whilst out walking during one of the worst snowstorms we had experienced in England in years. Sometimes things just feel right and the album's icy atmosphere perfectly suited the surroundings. I've loved this album ever since.

4.5/5

Ben, please can you add Déhà and Apokryphon.

Hi Ben, could you add the new MDB, Ghost of Orion and the Atavisma / Void Rot split, please.

That being the case, would you prefer we didn't request split releases to be added to the site?

Hi again Ben. Could you please add Khazad-dûm (UK), Devil Seed (Hungary), Konvent (Denmark) and Proscrito (Spain). Thanks.

Xephyr, I too was a massive fan of The Black Powder and although this is good I don't think it's anything like as good as Lord Vicar's opus. A couple of other traditional(ish) new albums are Saturnalia Temple's "Gravity" (psych-doom) and Doomraiser's "The Dark Side of Old Europa". Both are worth checking out.

Ben, please could you add Markov Soroka's Drown project (US).

As I argue in my review of Panopticon, I believe that bands like Isis have taken metal music beyond the realms of mere songs and into the world of true art. For too long critics were sneering and dismissive of metal, it's working class origins and lack of liberal bias not buying into the elitist worldview of the artistic critic. But with works like Panopticon, I think that metal now deserves more credit for expanding it's scope and horizons to artisitic interpretations of the human condition that constitute what is considered "art".

Nice one,  Ben. 

The new Suum album, Cryptomass, is damn good for anyone  who's a fan of scandi-doom like Reverend Bizarre and Lord Vicar (although the band are Italian).

4/5

Hi Ben, could you add Acid Witch (US) and Suum (Italy) please.

Yeah, likewise. Although I'm only really buying physical copies of 4 star or better albums now as I've switched to almost exclusively buying vinyl and the price is making me a bit more selective in my purchases.

My system looks a lot like Daniel's, except that I may be a bit too generous with my 5 star ratings sometimes. I don't know if there's that many "perfect" albums, if you define perfect as every track being a 5/5. Even stone cold classics often have one track that's a bit less awesome than the rest. I rate more on how an album makes me feel and how much I would want to hear it again, so it doesn't have to be perfect as long as it gives me that indefinable feeling that I know makes it a classic - to me at least, in other words a "go to" album.

I don't define a perfect album as having every song being a 5/5. It's more about the average being closer to a 5/5 than a 4.5/5. So you can afford one 3.5/5 track as long as the rest are right up there. You probably couldn't have any real duds or else the average won't be able to recover.

Fair point Daniel.

I had to give that Exterminator album a listen and I can't believe the artwork isn't the worst thing about it. That accolade must go to the guitar "solos" - truly the worst I've ever heard.
This ain't kvlt.. this is shit. (Think I'm gonna get that phrase on a T-shirt!)

Thanks Ben. That was quick!

My system looks a lot like Daniel's, except that I may be a bit too generous with my 5 star ratings sometimes. I don't know if there's that many "perfect" albums, if you define perfect as every track being a 5/5. Even stone cold classics often have one track that's a bit less awesome than the rest. I rate more on how an album makes me feel and how much I would want to hear it again, so it doesn't have to be perfect as long as it gives me that indefinable feeling that I know makes it a classic - to me at least, in other words a "go to" album.

4.5s are second-tier great, with maybe a very minor niggle.

4s are very good to good albums that have plenty of replayability.

3.5s are decent to good but flawed and may get the odd airing in future.

3s are kind of OK but unlikely to feature much in my future listening. 

2.5s are the bottom limit to anything that I would even consider listening to or a poor album with one or two good tracks.

2 - 1 not interested. May not even have got through the whole album.

0.5 Intolerably awful. An affront to music. If a metal album gets this rating (and some have) then I consider it to be execrably poor and it's probably some form of nu-metal!

Andi,  if you've never rated an album 2 or less then you're not listening to enough black metal bedroom warriors.

Also, could you add Saturnalia Temple (Sweden), please.

Ben, could you please add Acolytes of Moros (Sweden), Skeleton Gong (UK) and The Wandering Midget (Finland).

Hi Ben, could you please add the new On Thorns I Lay album, Threnos.